On tap at Stone Bistro...poured into a stemmed glass. A ~10yr old American pale ale...hmm - not sure what to expect.

A - Pours very clear with a neutral amber color and a low white head that leaves marginal lacing on the glass.

S - Fruity with oranges especially, sugary malt with touches of caramel. Not much for hops.

T - Tons of oranges, caramel, toasted malt and some brown sugar. Most of the hops are gone. Smooth drinking and malty but balanced beer now. Still tastes good, but you need to suspend your thoughts on what an APA is.

O - Been a long time since I had this one fresh and really don't have any recollection of it from that time. Still a very enjoyable beer - smooth and more malt forward - almost like an amber in character. Went well with food at the pub. Not flashy but solid...probably the oldest APA I've ever had.

Pours a hazy orange with a foamy tan head that settles to a film on top of the beer. Foamy streaks of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of malt, caramel, and some perfume-like hop aromas. Taste is much the same with a fruity flavor. There is a mild hop bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp and medium bodied mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good beer but it is showing some age.

A: Slightly opaque yellow gold with an enormous frothy white head that lingers for an impressive length of time. Lacing is pretty nice.

S: Lightly sweet bready malt with biscuit notes. Oxidation is complimentary, more sherry-like than cardboard. I'm surprised to find this slightly estery. I get a dash of banana and a little booze.

T: Taste is less impressive than the aroma, with a decided cardboard oxidation note and a touch metallic. Malt is bready and lightly sweet and there's a decided yeast character. There's a very mild bitterness but no real hop flavor. Alcohol is evident and there are some dried dates in the finish.

A: The pour is a hazy burnt orange color with a thin white head which dissipates very quickly.

S: The nose is sweet and caramelly with stale hop aromas (primarily oranges) and a touch of toffee.

T: Despite the near death of the hops in this beer, it is still quite nice. The sweet and bready malt is the main attraction with some toasted biscuit flavors coming into play. There isn't much bitterness to speak of, but this isn't much of a surprise.

M: The body is medium with a somewhat light carbonation.

D: Despite the disappearance of any real hop character, this beer has not turned into a sweet mess. While I wish I could have tried it fresh, it's still a decent beer.

Peach colored with an off-white head, little retention and lacing. Smell is of apricots, peaches, flowers, and biscuits. Taste is of peaches, apricots, tangerine, orange rind, and some sweet malt. Medium carbonation and lighter than medium body. This beer has held up much better than I imagined it would. Would love to try it again.

On tap at Stone Bistro for RBSG 08. Gold-amber color with a small white head. Aromas of oxidized hops, overripe apple, and caramel. Light caramel flavor with a lingering tannic finish as the once-prominent hops struggle against age. Sticky/dirty palate.

Poured from 22oz bottle stored refrigrated since the release into a duvel snifter. Poured a reddish orange color with thick white head and great lacing. Smell sweet tropical fruit and malt with faint pineapple scent. The taste grassy earth bitterness with a semi sweet malt taste. Mouthfeel is medium body with a great mellow carbonation level that isnt prickly or flat. The grassy bitterness makes this a one 22oz for me. I have tried this one when first released then again in 2004 and then now. I have to say for a double pale ale ( what lee once called it) it aged fine. Most of the tropical flavors and aroma are not as bright, only a grassy hoppiness remains and the sweetness mellowed out a bit more but a fine drinking beer that might be able to go even longer.

Had this on tap at the 11th anniversary but more recently out of the bottle at winter storm. The beer pours a cloudy orange color. It looked cool but the haze was a bit of a let down. The foam was fairly tall and fluffy but it disapeared quickly and left nothing behind.

The smell was of a strong pale ale with plenty of aged malt. There was a moderate hop aroma and it was of piney hops but it was balanced well with the sweet malt smell. The flavor was very nice for an aged pale ale. Personally I liked it better than the 8th and 9th anniversaries. There was surprisingly some hop flavor in this 4 year old beer. The malt flavor was a bit on the dark end of the spectrum for a pale ale and there was also the slightest hint of alcohol.

This beer was a bit thin but its still in the acceptable range for a pale ale. There wasn't a lot of carbonation in the beer but it was very smooth and delicious. Can't imagine that this beer will age much more for the better in the coming years though.

Taste was pretty chewy off the bat with a hint of grassy hoppy flavors, when it warmed some fruit came to the surface, apple in particular was evident, probably more along the line of golden delicious rather than a more sour granny smith, some raisins later on when this one became too sweet for my palate, not balanced because the majority of the hops have probably died down, this one needed to have a more dry feel to be really enjoyable

Body was pretty thick and fairly syrupy, not much carbonation, taste did not last very long, mouthfeel was a too sweet and creamy for a pale ale

Could drink a couple more ounces of this, it has a somewhat mellow taste, the alcohol percentage is not too high, fairly light on the stomach expect when it gets warm and much sweeter, taste does not really keep you coming back for more

Had been looking forward to trying this one and I was not too impressed overall, one of the worst anniversary beers I can remember having, probably tasted significantly better fresh but I will never know, I prefer Stone's standard pale ale over this one, cannot recommend this to anybody attending the event because there are so many other great beers to try before this one

Drinkability is low to fair, I found the flavors to be lacking and muted, with not much to get excited about, the 7th may have had some unfair competition at the Storm, so I would be willing to try it again for a re-evaluation

A - Poured a nice deep and murky amber with a small, maybe one finger high head of thin foamy lace. No real side glass contribution and the overall look was kinda bland, aside from some nice hazziness. Some carbonation could be seen streaming toward the top.

S - Aroma was obviously aged as it was very malty and most ogf the hops had been mellowed and gone by now. Very sugary and sweet in smell, there was quite a bit of earth tones and a touch of some light grass at the end. A subtle bread like malt came over the top.

T - The flavor was very unique. This held up well over the last few years despite being only 7% abv. Very very sweet and sugary. Reminded me alot of DFH Burton in the flavor. Had that almost candy like sweetness to it. Lots of malts here, good earthy tones and a touch of hop still left at the finish, just enough to let you know what it once was.

M- Super smooth and rich. It had almost a syrup like quality to it. This was rather thick and the carbonation seemed to die off in it as it went down the session. Still an overall good feel and was not thin in the least.

D - A very nice sessionable ale for me honestly. There was no hint of the alcohol at all and most of the dominant flavors have mellowed and left behind a rather nice subtle malty masterpiece. Its nice to see this held up so well.

Overall very nice. And suprise this was my 700th beer review! I figured how fitting to have a stone 7th for the 700th review. It lived up to my expectations and I really thought it held up very well with age. It took on almost an old ale like appeal now and the finish was very long with the hops, but that was really the only place I picked it up. Overall it is probably gonna hold up for another year as it is still mighty fine and still a really good pick to try. Happy 700th!! and a great brew.

Pours a beautiful light, orange-ish amber. Surprising amount of carbonation given this beer's age. It's a sweet tasting beer. Surprisingly, the current brew I'd most compare it to would be the Alesmith '06 Decadence (which is a much better beer, but taste-wise, it's reminiscent). There's some hops, but mostly this is delicious sweet malt with orange, mango?, papaya?, and other tropical fruits.

Here's a rare one from the deepest darkest parts of my cellar. Stored at 55 degrees in total darkness all this time. As you pour, it looks pale copper. In the glass it is a dark hazy copper/amber, the thin off white head falls quickly to a ring, leaving a good amount of lace.

The aroma is gentle and unified, a sweetly spicy blur with mandarin oranges and toast. Relaxing.

The taste is buttered wood chips followed by a caramel and brown sugar that slowly fade into another vanilla/wood/butter note that finally releases a perfect bitterness. A sweet slightly butterscotch note stays along for the whole ride.

Overall: Medium full to full, this beer has lost something and gaind something as is typical of aged beer. Certainly, since I hade a few when they were young, it was great to taste the changes in this beer tonight. Funny how so many of the stone beers age gracefully, but still keep so much life in them. I only have one of these left now. Even though this one was somewhat oxidized, and looks very different, I love the uniformity the flavors have achieved. This is a great testament to cool dark cellaring. My lower score merely reflects imperfections of time that you can expect in a well cellared bottle. If you find one, you probably don't want one that has been kept in anything less than the best conditions.